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Good for you! I'm glad that you got it fixed. I never would have imagined that there would be room enough in there for a desiccant pack. Way less effort than my "inert gas in a bag" idea 🤪, and in the long run probably more effective. Don't mind me. I like to tinker. I once replaced a broken battery terminal on my daughters watch with a piece of heating element from an old toaster. It was Minnie Mouse watch from Disneyland. Irreplaceable in her eyes, and she told my wife "Daddy will fix it". What was I to do? The pressure was immense. I had to think outside the box.

ChrisMI, Fresh runs out way faster than our tanks fill up. We can go through three tanks of fresh before we need to dump the Grey and Black. And grey fills faster for us than the black. We do dump dish water outside of the the trailer. Andrew

Good question and one we did not really take seriously or even consider when purchasing. When we travel we carry many extra ziplock bags of composting material as well as bricks of new coco coir in case of trouble such as stated above. And it happened to us. And for a long time due to doctors not being able to identify why this diarrhea was happening. What we had to do was constantly change the compost. There really wasn't any other alternative due to our boondocking choices and then eventually being stuck at basecamp with no toilet facilities other than our composting toilet. Not a good situation. But would we change to the conventional toilet? Never. Too much waste of precious clean water, boondocking abilities severely curtailed, and no desire to deal with the stinky black water on a regular basis. Getting sick happens. And no matter what sickness you get a travel trailer is no fun to be sick in. A bed at home or in the hospital would certainly be preferred over being held prisoner in less than a hundred square feet of living space. We never really considered either one of us getting sick and what it would do to ruin our plans and make camping a nightmare. But getting sick is NOT the norm. We are eager to get back on the road as soon as possible and still glad we have a composting toilet, solar power, and plenty of fresh water.

We've looked at ours as an investment in memories and fun. We'll probably keep our 2008 til "forever." If our daughter decides she doesn't want to camp, well, one well-maintained early Ollie will appear on the market. Someday.

We had the compost for three years - generally liked it, and had no issues. Were I to choose today - I would have to really think about it. As was mentioned - judicious water use would even out the choice. I believe I would go with the normal toilet - next time. RB

We have found the standard toilet uses very little water when you "need" to flush and can go almost two weeks, without needing to dump, if we take advantage or other places to go, when we are out for the day. Andrew

Good that it has a side door. Looks like you have found a nice home for the "Villa". $3,000 a year is about the going rate for indoor storage in our area, but it would be more with the square footage that you have. That is a pretty big space. Nice.

I had a unique opportunity on a recent trip we took while towing our Ollie down to the Chesapeake Bay for a little vacation. Actually observed a trailer tire failure in real time. Driving in moderately heavy traffic on an interstate at 60-65 mph, we were a bit behind a pickup truck towing an SOB dual axle travel trailer. It was a section of the interstate with 3 lanes in each direction. I was in the far right lane as usual, and the pickup truck/TT ahead of us were in the center lane. My wife and I both noticed that the forward tire on passenger side of the trailer ahead of us was low and the sidewall of the tire was oscillating side to side noticeably. Our position to the rear and right of the other trailer gave us a great viewpoint. The oscillations were getting worse, but the pickup truck driver was showing no indication he noticed anything at all as he happily maintained his speed. I tried to speed up an little to get alongside to try to honk/wave to warn him, but traffic opened up a bit at that point and he actually sped up significantly, so I fell pretty far behind. At this point, small chunks of rubber were now being thrown off the tire, but the driver continued on at speed. I gave up on my attempt to get alongside to warn him since I didn't feel safe getting closer, and actually backed off a bit further. Within another 30 seconds larger chunks of tire started coming off, followed by pieces of aluminum siding from the trailer side wall around the wheel well as the entire tread started coming off the tire and whipping around in the wheel well. So I slowed down even more to get a very safe distance behind from the impending disaster. Incredibly, the driver was still maintaining his speed! Probably doing 70mph and in the middle lane of three lanes of traffic! The full tire tread soon came off, fortunately I was far enough behind to avoid it easily along with all the other debris laying in the road at this point. By now other drivers closer to him in traffic were honking & waving at him, and he probably felt some drag or vibration at this point, and he finally figured out something was wrong, but because he was in the middle lane of the three lanes, and with the traffic, it took him quite a bit of distance to finally get over to the far right lane and he exited at an off ramp and pulled off on the shoulder there. By that point the tire was completely gone, but fortunately since it was a dual axle trailer, the driver never lost control. Some lessons learned, and/or reinforced. A very strong reminder of the need for a good TPMS system (I've had one since day one with our Ollie Elite II). A great demonstration of the advantage of a dual axle trailer for stability. And also a reminder that keeping to a reasonable speed and staying in the right hand lane most of the time are good practice.

After years of talking about it, we are finally ready to head north, depending on whether or not Canada opens up her borders to US visitors. We plan to spend four weeks on the road and more or less haul @ss up there just after Labor Day, 2000 miles/ 40 hours from Spokane WA to Tok, AK ... And then drive these Alaska routes as shown by the arrows. Weather permitting, we can hang out a few days here and there to wait for photo opportunities (no rain, sun breaks). Drive the Denali Hwy (gravel) westbound, to see Mount Denali in all its glory, plus elk, caribou, birds, etc. My wife is eager to do nature, northern lights, and time lapse photography. The caribou hunting season will be over by August, so hopefully there will be no crowds of hunters along that road. YouTube Denali Hwy and Denali NP Then to Denali NP for a few days, loop south and back east to visit the Kennecott Copper Mine via the McCarthy Road (more gravel - we would like to park the trailer for that section) and then to Valdez. YouTube McCarthy, Kennecott Mine, fast forward to 9:00 minutes, very cool Then back up to Tok and turn right for Canada. That south central AK loop with side trips will be about 1400 miles. Then slowly work our way home through BC and Alberta by the eastern route, hopefully missing the crowds at Jasper and Banff, and any early snow in the passes. We might detour to Prince Rupert going north, if the weather is good, we do want to see the ocean, but I am guessing Valdez will provide better views and whales and such.... We have no desire to deal with crowds, cruise ships, helicopter flights, tour buses or Anchorage. We want dark skies, star gazing, northern lights, solitude and wildlife. No hookups needed, nor do we even need established campgrounds. DNR ones are fine (Geezer Pass). Any and all advice about places to see and stay will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, John Davies Spokane WA

The Milepost is a good tool, with caveats. Sometimes businesses (gas stations, especially) that were open at time if printing are no longer open. It's full of ads. Seems to me that advertisers often get special attention in verbiage, whereas many pullouts and state, local, fish and game camping sites get barely a mention, if at all. That said, we always have one with us, not necessarily a current issue.

and John thanks for the compressor fridge idea. that will work. the other option was changing the orifice jet but not for now. thanks again

ok. maybe a fix! tried getting hold of norcold no luck but on another forum someone had fixed a similar issue by opening up the gap between the burner and electrode to 3/16". my setting was way less than that so after adjusting the gap it fired up on the first click. I am leaving it on to to see if it will cycle properly. Jason called me from Oliver service and pretty much said the same. so thankyou for all the help forum members. will hopefully work now at altitude and here in liivingston,mt at 4400'

I'm very happy with the Nature's Head. But, I get that it's not for everyone. I'd imagine a sort of calculus before deciding: - Will most of my nights (more than 50%) be spent with hookups at more organized campgrounds? - When moving from site to site, am I confident (more than 90%) that I'll easily be able to find an operating free/cheap dump station? - Does the brief sight/smell of poo/pee make me uneasy? - Does the thought of maintenance, including disassembling the head and dumping the compost, as well as pulling out the pee bottle and carrying it outside sound super gross? - Does the thought of occasionally wiping down poop/pee from the bowl freak you out? If the answer to these questions is "Yes!" then stick with the standard toilet.

For those with a standard toilet do you find the fresh runs out or the black / grey fills first. Would a 100 gallon tank w/pump in the back of the truck help much? I wished the pee bucket could be replaced with plumbing to the black tank. Maybe even a valve that would allow the shower to fill part of the black err “yellow” tank?

John I was by no means condemning firearms or their usefulness. If allowed, I will carry a firearm in the north woods for hunting, survival, and piece of mind. However, if i came around a corner of a trail while hiking and encountered a mama bear with cubs, I would prefer to have a can of bear spray in my hand. In my lifetime I have uncomfortably close encounters with bears, moose, bison, rattlesnakes, sharks, barracuda, and even a really mad monkey once (Africa), All of the encounters were sudden and unintentional. I am still more afraid of humans than any of the animals.

I just got back from a 2000 mile trip after tightening the nuts on the through bolts using a partial split nut to to secure the bolt (note to Oliver: we need carriage bolts as through bolts to prevent spinning!). Put 30 ft lbs of torque on bolts using a box end torque wrench adapter and cleaned and resealed the joints. NO MOVEMENT!!!

@John E Davies, we always carry spray when we are in bear territory. Lucky me, never had to use it. All the experts on bear behavior say that you are better off using the spray as opposed to a powerful handgun. There are two primary reasons for this rationale. 1. easy to deploy quickly 2. it works A brown bear can cover a lot of ground really, really quick. Unless you are an experienced big game hunter (accustomed to keeping your cool while being charged by a big mean animal) it is unlikely that you would be able to manage an immediate kill shot with a firearm. If you are being charged, by the time you get off a shot the bear will be on you in just a few seconds. Even if he is mortally wounded, he may use his last breath to dispatch you. Watch some videos. I think there are some on U-tube. You don't need good aim. Just point it at the bear and push the button. We did a good deal of research on this before we went fly-fishing in Yellowstone. There were a number of fatal bear attacks there the year that we went trout fishing on Slough Creek. We carry the same stuff that the USNPS and Forest Service people carry. The big drawback to bear spray is wind direction. The spray is pretty powerful, but there is a chance you would get a face full and still not deter the bear. It would need to be a pretty stiff wind though. We practice with old cans (they have expiration dates) and they really blast out the stuff. If allowed by regulations, if I were wandering about the wilderness in Alaska I would carry my 12 ga. rifled slug gun and bear spray. The spray would be my first choice, and I would only consider using the gun if there was substantial wind in my face. I am an experienced hunter and I would still consider my odds of survival better with the spray than with the gun in the event of a bear charge.

Probably from an old post here. I collected a lot of photos back when we were thinking about getting an Ollie and deciding colors and stuff.

Here’s a photo of the original light grey, or putty: After that color was discontinued, Oliver switched to the off white, which was much complained about at the time. I think that the only other choice that Oliver had from their supplier at the time was black, or perhaps a dark bronze color. This photo is from the factory, so you can see that they had that ‘yellowed’ look from day one: Around mid-2017, Oliver was able to get a pure white version that matches the interior fiberglass, and that’s what they still use today:

As long as the pee bucket is emptied every couple of days and not allowed to "steep" it isn't bad. We do find that if you let it go longer it can be a little ripe when you empty it. The part that I thought would be nasty, emptying the used coco coir, isn't stinky at all. If you had the runs for several days you might need to add more coco coir, but a single case hasn't been an issue. I do think if I needed to vomit I'd choose a bowl rather than hang over the toilet! Luckily haven't had to test that yet! We are glad we chose the composting toilet. Paula

There have been a few threads on this over the years. If you do a search on “jacking” you’ll find a number of posts. I’ve used the back jacks several times to do tire work. Once at Discount Tire to have new tires mounted. Once early on when I got my TST TPMS I went to a local tire dealer to get metal stems and a balance with the sensors on. One time at a camp site my grease cap came off and I used the rear jack on that side to raise and remove the tire. In all cases, I had the trailer connected to the truck, I put down the front jack and used blocks under the rear jacks to limit jack travel to just an inch or some. I also ensured the trailer was on level ground. Oliver now recommends against it, probably because of potential liability. Mike

The main selling point for me was not having to spend fresh water on each flush. Even when boondocking in places like the desert southwest it's better to be taking your poo back with you than to dig catholes and poo in them (there are more and more areas down there where that's now officially a no-no and even in other areas it's just good LNT camping since the soil you dig that cathole in tends to be fairly sterile i.e. no bacteria to break your poo down unlike up here where I live on the wet side of the Cascades). So having the compost toilet for sure significantly extends the time we can go between being at fill/dump stations.

I try not to handle them! 😉 But seriously, though I don't have a ton of time in yet with the compost toilet we have been out for a few weeks on end with it including some of this sort of fun. We didn't have a long enough bout going into our toilet to have to add any more composting medium ( moistened peat moss or coconut coir) which is what the manufacturer recommends if the hershey's squirts make it overly wet in the compost bin. Any "overspray" that hits the bowl is pretty easy to clean with a few spritzes of the water/vinegar solution that's recommended for bowl cleaning and a few wipes with TP that you can toss down into the bin. Thus far I'm a fan. I did get a squatty potty step which I'm going to scribe and cut to fit against the toilet so I don't have to go on tiptoe to have my feet touch the floor. But we've had no smell other than a little waft of compost smell (earthy - no different from a yard waste compost bin smell) when opening the toilet to get out the urine bottle or empty the compost bin. I add water periodically while in storage and also spin the agitator when I add the water. We last camped in mid June, and there is about two week's worth of poo and TP from the two of us. The TP is mostly just gone now, and the volume dropped back down to very close to what it was right after I added a fresh load of moistened peat moss. Right after the last 9 day camping trip in June the level was maybe two inches above the axle of the agitator and now it's back down to just below the axle. If you let it dry out in storage you'll end up with some brown dust on the floor and in the vent hose. No biggie but also easy to avoid if you are near where you store the trailer. Otherwise just dump the compost before storing. I like saving on water and not having to deal with dumping terribly often - looks like maybe if we did three weeks straight we might want to dump the compost bin and add fresh peat moss/coir. The pee bottle obviously needs more attention - every 2-3 days regardless of volume I'd say to avoid letting it get kinda gross (which you'd only notice when dumping it but still). But it's easy to dump/rinse/replace.

We entertained the idea of the composting toilet. After reading all about it I just did not feel it was worth the extra cost and effort. As I recall, you need to collect the urine in a jug that fastens to the front of the toilet. Obviously when the pee jug is full you need to dump it (while your wife is reading her book). In a campground you can't just toss it into the bushes. I prefer to have the convenience of a flushing toilet and spend the night at a campground with facilities to dump it now and then. When boon docking you can go several days before you have to dump the black tank. When camping at primitive sites, just grab your shovel and some TP and head for the trees. Be considerate of others and go at least 50 feet into the woods before you do your thing. We hike a lot and carry a little shovel in case the need comes up. The National Park Service says to get a minimum of 50 feet off of the trail before you do your thing, so that is the standard that we "go" by. Ha ha!

Not too far from the posted photo above is the infamous Moqui Dugway as it steeply descends off the southern end of Cedar Mesa down into the San Juan River Valley. Thought it might be an nice to provide photos of the general area where we've camped, boondocked, dry camped or however you choose to describe it, sort of why and what you were doing in the area in addition to where camped. Thanks for looking.

This is a cool thread, had not seen it before. I'll start out with a few in the early years of owning the Ollie. Goosenecks State Park, Utah. While there are some semi-developed campsites located back up the road with picnic tables and the likes we chose to drive further out on this bench, mesa, peninsula, reef or what ever you like to refer these geologic landforms. We were able to back right up to the edge overlooking the goosenecks as the San Juan River winds and cuts its way through land. Gorgeous evening, Trudi taking in the sights. Thanks for looking.

A side "man door" is excellent, and it is a cost saver for the owners, long term. Completely opening and closing an RV door electrically creates a whole lot of cycles, leading to spring failure, which is fairly costly to repair. I open mine by hand about seven feet when I just need to walk through, it is very easy to do, and I very rarely open the door up to its full 14 foot height. There is an electrically operated deadbolt you have to retract manually, then pull the Big Red Handle to disengage the drivetrain at the top. Both are at eye height on the wall, and very easy to find and operate. John Davies Spokane WA

Add up the RV's, motorcycles, boats, and associated hardware and soon your talking real money. Please don't mention the added $$ spent "improving" -- that makes it look really stupid. There was this one race bike, well... never mind. But - in almost every case -I would do it all over again. Our Oliver experience was certainly one of the better value plays overall. I never really tallied the costs and time/labor ( I'm not a fan of Horror moves) - but after 3 years of great experiences, and resale to a wonderful couple - we felt like it was a bargain. Of course my daily farm/daily driver is the former TV GMC 2500 - to replace it - well although it will bring almost what I paid - there is nothing to replace it with - have you looked lately - wow. - that and I really like driving the beast. Few if any have passed wishing they had left more $$ unspent..... Die young - as late as possible. Have fun Oliverites. RB A former Oliver caretaker.

I shudder to think of the $$$$$$$$$$$ we've spent over the past 14 years on two different Oliver's and five different tow vehicles. Saying nothing about all the mods to both trailers and the five trucks. Aw hell, it's only money and you can't spend it after you're gone.

We had the pleasure of meeting @Mike D. and Jill at a gas station near Ocala today.

Update: As far as I know, IL_Travelers and I are the only ones with this relatively new GM rear trailer camera. Service did a great job installing it but not through the hull as I had anticipated. They ran it from the rear curbside channel between the hull and frame, alongside the propane line. If anyone is considering getting a GM product as a two vehicle, I highly recommend getting the trailering package which includes the software for the rear camera. It functions very well because it not only shows what's behind but also what's along the sides (from cameras in the vehicle side mirrors), the blind spots, which takes a lot of the stress out of trailering.

We towed with a 2017 Expedition EL initially. It was ok for towing as equipped with the Ford factory max tow package, but on long steep grades the 3.5 liter V6 eco-boost engine was really working hard. And your tow rating of 6,600 sounds really low to tow an Elite II. The 4,600 lbs Elite II weight number you quoted is the empty dry weight without any options, with empty tanks, and with no personal belongings, food, etc. Most people end up well over 5,000 lbs if not closer to 6,000 lbs. Do you have the full factory max tow package? Ours as equipped with the Ford factory max tow package was rated at 9,000 lbs towing or so. But it did require the Andersen weight distribution hitch. But we upgraded though to a Ford F-250 because of cargo / payload capacity. Most people overlook that rating in their tow vehicle selection. Check the sticker on your Expedition driver’s door jamb for the cargo/payload capacity. Ours was only about 1,500 lbs. And with 2 adults plus luggage, a loaded cooler of food, camping gear plus the tongue weight of the Oliver of 500 to 600 lbs, and you’ll find that you hit your cargo / payload limit pretty quickly. The F-250 as ours is equipped has 12,600 lbs towing and 3,334 lbs payload capacity. And it doesn’t require the Andersen weight distribution hitch. Expedition towing the Elite II The F-250 towing the Elite II

We spent last week out at the coast of the Olympic National Park at the Kalaloch Beach campground, which is "dry camping" (no hookups) i.e. "boondocking" for the sake of this thread. We scored a sweet bluff-edge site overlooking the beach. The campground is currently "first come first served" but changes to reserved sites later today or tomorrow as they start their "high season" policy. Hopefully it will remain FFS in the off season forever as it's a nice place to head to in the colder months (which often aren't *that* much colder out at our coast versus in summer!) when the forecast is half decent. I miss the degree of spontaneity we used to have and hope we retain at least some of that forever!! There's lots to do in the area both along the shore as well as inland in the temperate evergreen rainforest which has some HUGE trees and tangled undergrowth and wildlife and water lots and lots of water. I hope folks don't mind the major photo dump - I had time on my hands and a few options for cameras 😄 Oh, and dogs are allowed on the beaches near Kalaloch, and there are a few trails in the adjacent National Forest near Lake Quinault where you can take them as well. Otherwise they are not allowed on trails in the National Park around there though.

Having spent about a month and a week running around BC, Yukon, and AK in 2016 - being in a hurry is not advisable. There is just to much cool stuff to do, see, experience, and catching the Great One - without cloud cover may take time. We didn't have Ollie then. I will tell you - put something on the front surfaces for protection - regardless of the stone stomper - you have been warned. Sept is a little late - but you know what your doing. In Canada - in the outback - BC/Yukon - consider 1/2 tank of fuel as empty - you never know if the next planned fuel source is open. Crowds were not an issue - Denali will need a rez - well in Sept ?? not sure. Great hiking - Bears are and were an issue - we had to change plans a few times........ carry bear spray and a 44 mag. Valdez was a cool place, Homer, a little less - fishing was good for my wife. We did a week on the Talkeetna river - WW trip through the gorge - flew in on a puddle jumper - landed on a sandbar- was really out there. We used 'The Milepost" guide - lot of info - you will just have to pare down what you want to see. When we do this again - n the Ollie - we will spend much more time in BC and Yukon. RB